Today's interesting development

Post by James Nicoll
Someone spent $19,000 dollars to stuff the Hugo Award ballot
box in a way that seems either very, very ineptly or in a
manner calculated to be spotted.
https://glasgow2024.org/hugo-awards/statement-22-july-2024/
Now, I do recall a case in the 1980s, I think, where an exuberant
fan tried to buy a story he liked a Hugo, using consecutively
numbered traveller's checks to buy memberships. So people do
fuck up comprehensively. But it could also be someone really dislikes
Finalist A and wanted to make them look bad.

Or -- conceivably -- someone who dislikes the Hugo award as an institution.

James Nicoll

2024-07-23 01:19:10 UTC

Or -- conceivably -- someone who dislikes the Hugo award as an institution.

What a half-assed attack, then.

James Nicoll

2024-07-23 01:34:36 UTC

Or -- conceivably -- someone who dislikes the Hugo award as an institution.

What a half-assed attack, then.

Which isn't to say that's not what happened! Sometimes, people are
just incompetent.

BODYGUARD OF LIES had a vignette about how the Germans during WWI,
faced with Allied leaflets dropped on Germans lines claiming that
German officers were stealing enlisted men's pay, responded with
leaflets dropped in Allied territory showing that their bookkeeping
was solid and no embezzlement was occuring.

Ahasuerus

2024-07-23 16:06:13 UTC

Or -- conceivably -- someone who dislikes the Hugo award as an institution.

What a half-assed attack, then.

Perhaps it was more along the lines of George Bernard Shaw's dictum
about wrestling with pigs:

"You both get dirty and the pig likes it."

Or "If we throw enough mud at the wall some of it will stick".

James Nicoll

2024-07-23 16:21:49 UTC

Or -- conceivably -- someone who dislikes the Hugo award as an institution.

What a half-assed attack, then.

Perhaps it was more along the lines of George Bernard Shaw's dictum
"You both get dirty and the pig likes it."
Or "If we throw enough mud at the wall some of it will stick".

Just at this second, it looks like it might be SF's version of the
Black Sox Scandal.

James Nicoll

2024-07-23 17:19:25 UTC

Or -- conceivably -- someone who dislikes the Hugo award as an institution.

What a half-assed attack, then.

Perhaps it was more along the lines of George Bernard Shaw's dictum
"You both get dirty and the pig likes it."
Or "If we throw enough mud at the wall some of it will stick".

Just at this second, it looks like it might be SF's version of the
Black Sox Scandal.

Which is to say, some gambler dropped 20K trying to fix a contest on
which he was voting.

Robert Carnegie

2024-07-26 21:19:20 UTC

Or -- conceivably -- someone who dislikes the Hugo award as an institution.

What a half-assed attack, then.

Perhaps it was more along the lines of George Bernard Shaw's dictum
"You both get dirty and the pig likes it."
Or "If we throw enough mud at the wall some of it will stick".

Just at this second, it looks like it might be SF's version of the
Black Sox Scandal.

Which is to say, some gambler dropped 20K trying to fix a contest on
which he was voting.

And/or betting?

James Nicoll

2024-07-27 00:40:07 UTC

Or -- conceivably -- someone who dislikes the Hugo award as an

institution.

Post by James Nicoll
What a half-assed attack, then.

Perhaps it was more along the lines of George Bernard Shaw's dictum
"You both get dirty and the pig likes it."
Or "If we throw enough mud at the wall some of it will stick".

Just at this second, it looks like it might be SF's version of the
Black Sox Scandal.

Which is to say, some gambler dropped 20K trying to fix a contest on
which he was voting.

And/or betting?

One assumes.

Michael Benveniste

2024-07-23 00:44:27 UTC

Post by James Nicoll
Now, I do recall a case in the 1980s, I think, where an exuberant
fan tried to buy a story he liked a Hugo, using consecutively
numbered traveller's checks to buy memberships. So people do
fuck up comprehensively. But it could also be someone really dislikes
Finalist A and wanted to make them look bad.

https://fancyclopedia.org/1989_Hugos#Consecutively_Numbered_Money_Orders

--
Mike Benveniste -- ***@murkyether.com (Clarification Required)
Such commentary has become ubiquitous on the Internet and is widely
perceived to carry no indicium of reliability and little weight.
(Digital Media News v. Escape Media Group, May 2014).

James Nicoll

2024-07-23 01:21:39 UTC

Post by Michael Benveniste

https://fancyclopedia.org/1989_Hugos#Consecutively_Numbered_Money_Orders

I own a copy of the book that got withdrawn as a result. Neither
author published much after that.

William Hyde

2024-07-23 20:13:26 UTC

Post by Michael Benveniste

https://fancyclopedia.org/1989_Hugos#Consecutively_Numbered_Money_Orders

I own a copy of the book that got withdrawn as a result. Neither
author published much after that.

Out of sheer curiosity:

Was the book good enough to be a valid nominee?

Do you regret the departure of the (I assume) co-authors from the field?

William Hyde

James Nicoll

2024-07-23 20:44:33 UTC

Post by William Hyde

Post by Michael Benveniste

https://fancyclopedia.org/1989_Hugos#Consecutively_Numbered_Money_Orders

I own a copy of the book that got withdrawn as a result. Neither
author published much after that.

Was the book good enough to be a valid nominee?

I cannot recall. I will reread it.

Post by William Hyde
Do you regret the departure of the (I assume) co-authors from the field?

I don't like people being punished for other people's transgressions.

David Duffy

2024-07-23 07:42:45 UTC